Panthers overcome mistakes to knock off Raiders

Nov 10, 2008 - 3:28 AM
OAKLAND, California (Ticker) -- Jake Delhomme played about as
bad as he could and the Carolina Panthers won anyway.

Delhomme threw four interceptions, but the Panthers' defense
kept the Oakland Raiders out of the end zone and the offense did
enough for a 17-6 victory on Sunday.

Carolina led, 14-0, at the half on a 3-yard touchdown pass from
Delhomme to Muhsin Muhammad in the first quarter and a 69-yard
TD run by DeAngelo Williams in the second.

Oakland had three turnovers of its own, including a pair of
interceptions by Andrew Walter, who started for an injured
JaMarcus Russell.

"It felt good to play again but obviously the game didn't turn
out the way we wanted," Walter said.

"We got to stay out of those third and longs," Oakland interim
coach Tom Cable said. "Our game on first and second down I
thought we were quite efficient. But penalty here, penalty
there and next thing you know it's third and nine, third and 11,
third and eight. Just too much to overcome. We're not there
yet."

The four picks matched a career worst for Delhomme, but Williams
finished with 140 yards on 19 carries and the Carolina defense
was too much for Walter.

"Their defense is very good," Delhomme said. "They didn't play
well last week against Atlanta and when you get embarrassed like
they did, it's the NFL, guys come ready to play.

"We were pretty darn sharp in practice this week. It was one of
our sharper weeks offensively. And for whatever reason, I was
the one pulling the trigger today and I wasn't the sharpest for
us."

Oakland (2-7) outgained Carolina, 259-219, but could only manage
a pair of second-half field goals by Sebastian Janikowski. The
Raiders have now gone nine quarters without scoring a touchdown
and have lost three straight.

"We gave up a lot of yards passing and rushing," Carolina
defensive end Julius Peppers said. "I am not exact on numbers,
but I was out there and I know we didn't give up a lot of points
and that's the main thing that counts."

It looked like it was going to be a long day for Oakland right
off the bat as Johnnie Lee Higgins fumbled the opening kickoff
at the 16-yard line. Delhomme capped that short drive with his
pass to Muhammad for a 7-0 lead.

That was pretty much the high point for Delhomme, who completed
7-of-27 passes for 72 yards. Despite that performance, Carolina
(7-2) won to remain in first place in the NFC South.

"A 'W' is a 'W'. A long time ago there is no such thing as an
ugly win," Carolina coach John Fox said. "That's why they call
it a team game. I thought our defense had a tremendous effort
and we made plays offensively when we needed to, we made enough
plays to win.

"We're 7-2. That's one game better than 6-2 last time I
looked."

Janikowski's two field goals gave him 865 career points,
breaking George Blanda's franchise record of 863. Janikowski
missed a 58-yard field-goal attempt with nine seconds to play.

"It's just a number," Janikowski said. "I'd trade all those
points in for the win."